I was once instructed that a really lazy person does it the right way the first time, then you don't have to do it over and over again?

As the Federal Register noted, these investigations are not complete. It may not have been the crew that left the car out to foul. Many times it has been found that the customer has moved the car for convenience, setting up these "traps". Accidents involving released hand brakes are also often caused by these "customer" movements by untrained personel.

These always make interesting reading. It's a lot safer work than it used to be, but switching is still dangerous, and is often most affected by those "human factors".